India maintains a separation between civilian and military nuclear programmes and remains outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Consequently, the PFBR is not under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
The reactor that has now gone critical at Kalpakkam, on the Bay of Bengal coastline in Tamil Nadu, is not the end of that journey. It is, more precisely, the end of the beginning. The real test is whether India can now scale fast breeder capacity rapidly enough to make a material difference to its energy-mix building on the Kalpakkam template, the industrial supply chains it has validated, and the engineering confidence it has earned.
If India and China choose collaboration by setting aside strategic suspicion in the climate domain, they could fundamentally reshape the trajectory of the 21st century, as they have already demonstrated individually through their pursuit of clean energy over the past decade. More importantly, such a coalition could revive the COP28 fossil-fuel phase-down pledge, which stalled at COP29 in Baku and appears to be drifting further at COP30 in Belém.
The Indus and the Ganges are dying slowly, and with them disappear species that evolved over thousands of years within these waters. If current patterns continue, future generations may inherit rivers that exist geographically but are biologically empty. South Asia still has an opportunity to reverse this trajectory, but only if environmental protection becomes a shared regional priority rather than an afterthought.
Father Stan Swamy, the Jesuit priest who died Tuesday while a court heard his bail plea, worked to “make the world a more just place” and the United States regularly took up with the Indian government his continued detention, according to a State Department spokesperson
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is “deeply saddened and disturbed” by the death of Stan Swamy, her spokesperson Liz Throssell said
As the world grapples unevenly with the effects of COVID-19, “a parallel and equally horrific pandemic” has threatened half the world’s population, the UN chief said on Tuesday, in the lead up to the Generation Equality Forum in France
India has called for international action to achieve a framework for global cybersecurity, raising an alarm about the emergence of cyberspace as a vehicle for cross-border terrorism by nations and terror organizations
Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has voiced his concern that the world is witnessing a dangerous trend of an increase in the number of children being recruited and involved in terrorism-related activities
The disregard for children’s rights amid war and upheaval “is shocking and heartbreaking”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday during a high-level open debate in the Security Council, held virtually
Radical policing reforms are needed to address systemic racism affecting people of African descent around the world, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Monday, as her Office published a series of recommendations prompted by the killing of George Floyd in the United States
Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds “enormous potential” for improving the health of millions around the world if ethics and human rights are at the heart of its design, deployment, and use, the head of the UN health agency said on Monday
The global climate crisis is “exacerbating and intensifying” water-related disasters, jeopardizing lives and livelihoods, the UN chief said on Friday at a major sustainable development symposium
Top UN rights experts appealed on Thursday for all governments to ensure that victims of torture receive the rehabilitation services they need, along with guarantees that those who help them do not suffer reprisals
Around 275 million people used drugs worldwide in the last year of unprecedented upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, up by 22 per cent from 2010
The European Union (EU) must use its leverage to ensure people everywhere have access to COVID-19 vaccines, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday
The United Nations Human Rights Office has dubbed as “selective” and “arbitrary” the presidential pardon granted to a former Sri Lankan MP convicted to life imprisonment for the murder of a fellow politician
The UNHRC Core Group on Sri Lanka has called upon the island nation’s government to address the harmful legacies of war and protect human rights, including those from religious minorities
Deborah Lyons, the United Nations envoy in Afghanistan, has criticized the Taliban’s recent “intensive military campaign”, warning that it would lead to continued violence in the country
